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CHRISTIAN COLLEGE: 



ITS INSTRUCTION AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 



3 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS 



Rev. Dr. WILLIAM L. BRECKINRIDGE, 

PRESIDENT OF CENTRE COLLEGE. 

; 



< CINCINNATI: 

MOORE, WILSTACH & BALDWIN, Printers, 

25WE8T FOURTH STREET. 




1864 



fcJBs 



141 s«i 



A CHRISTIAN COLLEGE: 

ITS INSTRUCTION AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 



The Inaugural Address of Bev. Dr. William L. Breckinridge, President of Centre College. 
Delivered in Presence of the Board of Trustees, and of the Synod of Kentucky, in Session 
at Danville, October 14, 1864. 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, Members of the Board of Trustees of Centre College: 
Mr. Moderator and Brethren of the Synod of Kentucky : 

You will allow me to address myself to you all, as Guardians 
of the School, whose principal charge you have seen fit to 
assign to me. 

I hold the office at your pleasure, and by your good will. 
On no other terms could I ever wish to hold it ; and this, not 
only because my brethren are the persons with whom, above 
all others, I desire to be associated, but also and more, because 
the school is yours — founded, built up, and supported by the 
Church to which we all belong; and now, as one generation 
passeth away, and another generation cometh, resting on your 
hands, the sons come up in the place of the fathers. 

Believing with you, that all events are so many Divine ap- 
pointments — for even the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole 
disposing thereof is of the Lord — I recognized His hand in the 
circumstances which have led me to this place, and I accepted 
the conclusion as the ordering of His Providence. Looking 
only at myself, I had shrunk from the difficult and solemn 
trust which it imposed — the more when I thought of the men 
whom I was to follow in this work. But looking at the whole 
matter, I could not do otherwise than undertake the service 



to which you called me. The responsibility was, in large part, 
with you — my share of it being met when I should do what I 
could to carry out your will. 

The generous confidence you have given me is the more 
gratefully acknowledged, because I count it a token of the 
Divine goodness and favor to me, that you were not only will- 
ing so to use your trust, but that you desired, without any 
seeking of mine, to commit these great interests to my hands. 

You can not be indifferent to my opinions and my purposes 
concerning them. You must wish to know from myself how 
I propose to conduct them. And to meet your wishes in this 
respect, I stand here now to say plainly, in your presence, what 
I hold touching our work, and how I desire to perform my 
part of it as a servant of the Church for the Lord's sake. I 
trust you will approve the views which I shall submit to you. 
Otherwise that you will correct them, so that by your superior 
wisdom we may be directed in a better way . 

I. First of all, then, I look upon this College as a Christian 
Institution. 

The people who were foremost in laying its foundations, were 
Christian people, drawing their principal motives herein from 
the interest they felt in the kingdom and glory of our Lord. 
They were not behind other citizens in their love for the whole 
country, or their concern for the honor and welfare of this. 
Commonwealth, whose advantage they especially consulted; but 
in this enterprise their chief concern was about the Church, and 
they undertook their work, first and mainly, for the sake of the 
Lord Christ. They were friends of education, but they were, far 
more, friends of religion ; and it was out of regard for this grand 
interest, which lay nearest to their hearts, and which, in their 
calm judgment, they set far above all, that they put their hands 
to this work. So we read every history that has been written — 
so we interpret every tradition that has come down to us — 
so we recall every recollection that abides with any of us — of 
the rise of this movement. I well remember it in my early 
days, when I was just beginning to assume the responsibilities 
of manhood. The ministers were gathering for this cause the 
gifts of the people, their offerings to the Church, for the love 
of Christ, and His truth as they held it. The first religious con- 
tribution of any consequence I ever made was cast into this 



treasury, as the treasury of God, no less in the interest of relig- 
ion than any other object of Christian benevolence. 

In the early settlement of this State, our Fathers of the Pres- 
byterian order — few in numbers, but strong in the faith which 
has distinguished this branch of the Church wherever it has 
had a place, steadfast friends of sound learning, which they 
held to be among the surest and best supports of true religion — 
set their hearts on the religious education of their children. 
They wished the preacher and the schoolmaster to go hand-in- 
hand — often, in fact, going in the same person: and wherever 
they set up the public ordinances of Divine worship, they 
desired the school-house to stand under the shadow of the house 
of God. 

As these principles were expanded, and the means and 
opportunities of illustrating them achieved, they aimed to 
establish schools of higher grade — always to be consecrated to 
the Gospel, dignified by its presence, adorned by its beauty, 
controlled by its power. We need not trace here the circum- 
stances which disappointed their hopes and broke up their 
plans, until, at length, all these were revived and brought 
together in the founding of this College, on which the leading 
men of that day in our Church laid themselves out to gather 
into one the interest and influence of all their people, that by 
these combined, with the blessing of God, they might build up 
an institution of learning to the praise of His name for many 
generations. 

Such having been its origin, we might expect to find its 
history full of His mercies, for He has never been " unright- 
eous to forget the work and labor of love, which His servants 
have showed toward His name." And so it has been. Xo 
smaller measure of success in any respect, than was reasonably 
to be looked for, in return for the exertions made, has ever 
discouraged its friends. ~No heavier disaster than is common 
to man, has ever cast a gloomy shade over its prospects. Its 
best lovers and its greatest benefactors, indeed, must go to their 
graves and their recompense, each at the appointed time. Its 
most untiring, useful, and honored servants must rest from 
their labors in its behalf, for God has greater works than these 
for them to do, in a better field than this. But heavy as these 
losses have been to the College, and sore as the distress and 



sorrow they have brought to its friends, no' misfortune has 
befallen it which we may not hope that time, and patience, and 
the blessing of God, will repair ; while signal mercies have run 
along its track all the time — its path strewn with marvelous 
proofs of a kind and favoring Providence, and still more marvel- 
ous proofs of the loving kindness of sovereign and infinite grace 
showered down on them that were serving it, and on them that 
it was serving. Many of our best ministers, ruling elders, and 
private members of the Church, in this Synod, and away 
beyond its bounds, in every direction, were brought to the 
Saviour's feet while pursuing their studies here. If you should 
strike off their names from the roll of our brethren, of the living 
and of the dead, you would sadly mar its beautiful fullness. 
If the sum of their effective labors in the cause of Christ were 
thrown out of the grand account, and all the good He has been 
pleased to accomplish through them were substituted by the 
evil they have put down and destroyed, what a wail of anguish 
the reversing would bring up from many hearts, at home and 
abroad ! for some of them have gone to distant people, and with 
skillful and diligent hands have scattered knowledge among 
the ignorant, and borne the message of grace and salvation to 
the heathen. 

Moreover, there is reason enough to believe, that not a few 
young men have received religious impressions here, which 
were not lost when they went away; but, in God's own time, 
and by His merciful goodness, they were matured in the peace- 
able fruits of righteousness, and finally gave to the country and 
to the Church some of the first citizens and most useful Chris- 
tians — while others, coming as young and recent servants of 
our Lord, grew up under the opportunities, which they enjoyed 
here in the pursuit of knowledge, and the means of grace, into 
the stature of men in Christ Jesus — some of them, able minis- 
ters of the ISTew Testament — more of them owned and blessed 
of the Lord in other stations. To say nothing of many more, 
who, coming here without previous religious training, and either 
wholly indifferent to the Gospel, or prejudiced against it, were 
so far brought under its influence as to count themselves its 
friends, and to be in many ways its supporters in after-life, 
although we know not whether they were brought under its 
saving power. It has pleased God in these ways to send out 



hence imperceptible but powerful forces, into families and 
neighborhoods, where they have done great good — especially 
in behalf of religion. 

It has been remarkably so in the society immediately around 
the College, and closely connected with it. This community, 
contributing in many wise and generous methods to its growth 
and improvement, has received back again into its bosom an 
hundred fold for all that it has done — nay, for all that it has 
proposed — in this sacred work. When this house of worship 
was in its building, its colossal proportions, as they seemed to 
many, so much beyond the requirements of the occasion, the 
minister said, in his zeal and his hope, "We are building for 
the millennium." But, as one of our brethren — himself an 
example of much that has been said, a son, and now a pillar of 
the College — lately reminded a church meeting, when he was 
persuading the people to rise and build another house, the mil- 
lennium has not come, but the place is too strait for us — these 
large dimensions have shrunk to a littleness that cramps our 
swollen numbers. Doubtless, in the good providence and the 
amazing grace that have brought out this growth, many influ- 
ences were at work; but no one will dispute, that for the means 
to this end, the College has been the principal thing — the Col- 
lege and the men it has gathered and held here, through so 
many years — especially, that eminent servant of God, who, 
during the lifetime of a generation, guided the College, while 
he preached the Gospel to this people, to whose great works 
you will quickly join — in your warm recollections, and in your 
sorrow over these bereavements, the signal abilities, and the 
arduous labors of his successor. And as long as the happy 
influence of the preaching and the lives of these, our honored 
brethren, shall abide among these people and their children, so 
long must they feel that they have reason to thank God for 
this Institution. I think, too, we may justly count the School 
of Theology, with all it has done and may yet do for this soci- 
ety, among the beneiits it has reaped from the College. The 
same considerations, which prompted our fathers and ourselves 
to desire a school of academic instruction for our sons, led us on 
to desire a school of professional training for so many of them 
as were to be ministers of the Word. The one naturally drew 



the other after it, and planted it by its side. Else the Seminary 
had hardly been here. 

Coming to my work, then, at your bidding, I have come to 
it with these conceptions of it uppermost in my mind, and with 
the desires, which spring out of them, strongest in my heart. 
Nothing in the expressions of your will, when you called me to 
it, pleased me so well, as that which declared, " that the religious 
instruction of the students shall form a very special and import- 
ant part of the President's labors, and that the Professors shall 
assist him in this work," which they are all ready to do. 

I desire every good thing for these boys, and for all who 
shall follow them — every treasure of useful knowledge that can 
go to make a scholar rich — every accomplishment that may 
adorn a gentleman — every virtue that will give dignity to a 
citizen. But most of all, and far above all, I desire for them 
the mercy that shall make them the children of God through 
faith in Jesus Christ. And if, by infinite grace,' I can help to 
lead them to His Cross, and hold them at His feet, then my 
work will be done the best for their welfare, and the most for 
your honor as over me in the Lord. We are not at liberty, and 
we have no heart, to do this work in a sectarian spirit — not, 
first and mainly, for the sake of that branch of the Church, 
which we love so well, but, first and mainly, to swell the com- 
pany of true believers in Christ, and to save these souls from 
death to the glory of our Lord. To these ends, therefore, and 
in this spirit, with the help of God, I propose, as long as I hold 
this office, to direct my earnest prayers, and my diligent exer- 
tions, in preaching the Gospel, and in every other form of 
teaching which it may be your pleasure for me to employ. 

Our precise methods of religious instruction may be most 
clearly set forth in the terms appointed to us by the Board of 
Trustees. We were required to submit to its consideration a 
special report, with a distinct scheme, embodying our conclu- 
sions on this subject, which, approved by the Board, became a 
law for us. It is now in use, with no discontent on the part 
of our pupils, and with hopeful promise. At the hazard of 
some repetition, I introduce it here : 

" The President and Professors, having maturely considered 
the subject to which this order of the Board of Trustees refers, 
respectfully submit this report : 



"There is no difference of opinion among us, as to the im- 
portance of this department of instruction ahove all others — 
understanding, as we do, by the religious instruction of the stu- 
dents, exertions to fix, in their minds, just and clear knowledge 
of Divine things, and to bring them, by God's blessing, under the 
saving influence of His revealed Word. This Institution was 
founded by His servants with a view to the liberal education 
of the sons of His people, in which they embraced, as a lead- 
ing thought and a main desire, their training on Christian prin- 
ciples, and the constant inculcation of Divine truth — in the 
special hope that He would be pleased to use the work of their 
hands for the increase of laborers in the Gospel ministry. 

" The history of the College shows that He has had respect to 
the desires and the exertions of His servants. The large num- 
ber of ministers and other pious men, who have received their 
education in chief part, and in like manner their religious 
impressions, here, makes this very plain. 

" While we thank the Lord for all His kindness in the past, 
we pursue our work as He will help us, in His fear, with the 
hope, that the favor, which He has shown to those who have 
gone before us herein, will not be withheld from us in our day, 
nor from those who shall come after us. The late manifesta- 
tion of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit confirms us 
in this hope, and encourages us to do whatever He will enable 
us to do, for the promotion of the great ends of the Institution. 

" We do not withhold from the Board a frank expression of 
our sense of the difficulties attending this work of religious 
instruction, even in a Christian College. The students, for the 
most part, come out of the families of God's people; but so 
many of them, as have not been renewed by His grace, come 
to us with the old evil heart of unbelief, and this does not love 
to study, as it does not love to follow, the Word of God. 

"Then, there may be found some difficulty in adjusting the 
direct religious instruction of all the classes to their other studies, 
in such arrangements as will satisfy all concerned, touching the 
due proportions of each. It is not desirable to excite the dis- 
content of parents, who do not highly value religious knowl- 
edge in their children, by seeming to engage their attention to 
it in too great proportion to other subjects of study. 

" There are inconveniences, too, in calling them together at 



other times than those recognized as College hours — so many 
of them lodging at distant places, even for miles around the 
town — while we do not think that much good is to he expected 
for the students from reluctant and compulsory attendance on 
religious instruction, at hours and under circumstances incon- 
venient and distasteful to them. 

"The opinions and testimony of those, who have been 
engaged here, for many years, in the instruction of Bible 
Classes on the Sabbath day, add nothing to our confidence in 
this method for us, or to our hope of much advantage from it, 
in the future, over the little, as we suppose, in the past time. 

" Our main hope for good in this matter, restSj under God's 
blessing, 

"1. On the simple, clear, and faithful preaching of the Gos- 
pel — on which, we think, the students ought to be induced to 
wait, by all such influences as can be wisely used, and by all 
the attractions which can be justly offered to them — with the 
least that might be repulsive — reserving every authoritative 
requirement as a final necessity. They understand our rule, 
our wishes, and our expectations — and we believe they rarely 
violate them — while we do not habitually institute inquiries on 
this subject, in any formal manner. 

"2. On apt, judicious, and frequent mingling, with regular 
instruction in their usual studies, of the applications of Divine 
truth to other branches of knowledge, and its appeals to the 
heart and the conscience. There are few, if there be any 
studies pursued here — we believe there are none — which do 
not afford occasions of doing this, if, by grace, we can use a 
true skill, a tender and earnest love of truth; aud a deep con- 
cern for lost souls, in the improvement of these occasions. 

"3. On the regular, systematic, and careful study of the 
Word of God, by all the classes, as a College exercise. We 
believe that it would comport with the pious and wise designs 
of the founders of this Institution — with the views of its best 
friends and supporters in this day — and with the solid advan- 
tage of the students, for the life that now is, and for that 
which is to come, to make the Sacred Scriptures a text-book 
for every class, throughout the entire course of instruction. 

" Accordingly, we recommend to the Board of Trustees, to 
order an arrangement, which will give to each class a weekly 



9 

recitation on the Word of God, in our own tongue — with 
such use of the original as may seem meet to the instructor. 
Aud we judge, that the most suitable time for this exercise 
will be the first hour on Monday morning — beginning the 
secular labors of the week with this sacred study. We think 
the aim ought to be to interest the students in the Divine Word, 
for its plain sense — in hope that the Holy Spirit will apply it 
to their minds with its saving power, as that which is able to 
make one wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ 
Jesus — while we would leave the more precise methods of 
instruction, in their details, to the judgment of the teacher.'' 

II. Ip the second place, and subordinate only to the first, I con- 
ceive of this College as a school for sound learning. And by 
this I mean solid, thorough, useful education — the training of 
the sons of the Church, and the youth of the country who 
should resort to it, with such methods of instruction, and in 
such branches of knowledge, as would make them fair schol- 
ars. Its founders were friends of education in this sense, and 
were content with nothing short of this measure and extent of 
good learning. Few of them, perhaps, were finished scholars — 
few of them even aspired to this grand distinction — a rare 
attainment in our more favored day — impossible to many in 
the circumstances of those revered men. But their prevalent, 
if not their universal, sentiment was a high value of knowledge 
and wisdom, obtained by laborious study in the course of edu- 
cation — that is, in the pursuit of learning. 

Such, beyond doubt, are the sentiments, clearly held and 
warmly cherished by the members of this Board of Trustees, 
and by the ministers and ruling elders, who compose this 
court of the Lord's house. I will do my utmost to carry them 
out, in all of which I am well assured of the cordial concur- 
rence of my colleagues. 

I draw my sense of our duty, in part, from what I under- 
stand to be your aims and wishes in this matter. You are the 
governors and supporters of a school in which faithful instruc- 
tion is to be given, to the end that its pupils, well taught in 
whatever they profess to learn, may become good scholars 
therein. You desire no less than this for your sons, when you 
put them in our care. You may justly hold us to account, if 
we come short of our best exertions to effect it. You will 



10 

require the same for the sons of your friends, who, under the 
sanction of your names as you manage this great trust, commit 
them to our charge. We promise, in the fear of God, and out 
of respect to all our obligations, that we will give good instruc- 
tion, and that we will do what we can to inspire our pupils 
with a desire to receive it It shall be our desire, not to give 
them a show and pretense of knowledge; but to make them 
truly study, and well understand what we try to teach them — 
persuaded that the great ends of education are in a manner 
lost, if this be not gained. 

Our theory is just and wise. If we could fulfill its great 
designs in every case, the benefits we would dispense were 
beyond all estimate. The elegant ornaments of a liberal edu- 
cation — the refining and elevating influences of good scholar- 
ship — the clearness and early maturity of thought it would 
impart — the fair sweep and ever-swelling force of knowledge, 
even in the measure of its acquisition in the College course — 
how well they would prepare a youth to choose his path in 
life, and to endure the further toil that should make him mas- 
ter of his calling, whatever that might be ! And when this 
was gained, how grandly would it all impel him, as he started 
in his career of active labors, and usefulness, and honor ! Oh! 
that we could make them all see how much they might gain 
by diligent and honest study now, and how much they are 
sure to lose by the lack of it! We covet this influence over 
them for their own sakes, and we do not forget that it would 
put a crown on your heads, gentlemen, and on ours. But we 
may not repress the mournful acknowledgment of the imper- 
fectness of our success. As on the other and far higher inter- 
est, so on this, we are subject to many a sad disappointment. 
The utmost diffidence will not allow us to ascribe it to our- 
selves. Our brethren who have preceded us in this work, with 
their gifts, and skill, and large experience, were obliged to 
make the same acknowledgment; and we fear the day is far 
off, when the lamentation will be no longer repeated. Indeed, 
some of the obstacles to complete success are inherent in the 
nature of things, and it is impossible to remove or overcome 
them. Some of them belong to the times we live in, and these 
will give way when the times shall change, and better days 
shall come again. Some of them are due to the state of our 



11 

society, irrespective of these times, and these it belongs to the 
friends of education, and to institutions of learning, to correct ; 
for it is one of their uses to mold the public sentiment, and 
give to the people just opinions and right desires concerning 
education. I judge that the principal method by which they 
may hope, with the Divine blessing, to achieve these great 
objects, is the pursuit of their aim, amid all difficulties, to 
make good scholars. 

This is our work — to make good scholars. One of the prin- 
cipal difficulties we have to contend with, is the natural repug- 
nance of so many to close thought and hard study — and there 
is no path to the knowledge we speak of which does not lead 
through these. Then we must have trouble with all of this class. 

The duH and the inert can not learn any thing, which 
requires much mental exertion, without a degree of labor very 
great to them ; and these unhappy infirmities often preclude 
the irksome toil. Some of these, indeed, are blessed with a 
desire to obtain knowledge, and other motives, also, impel 
them to the effort. But it is a slow and tedious process, which 
seldom gathers more than a very small stock. Others of them 
want these motives, as they lack the capacity of quick attain- 
ments ; and thus the utmost exertions to which their indiffer- 
ence can be moved, often come to nothing. I do not say, they 
had all better be at home; for at school they may learn some- 
thing, and the entrance of a little light may invite a little 
more, until, as sometimes comes to pass, long and toilsome 
study receives its just reward. The heavy boy, indeed, comes 
out the heavy man; but, at last, his well-drilled and well- 
stored mind is the honorable distinction of a student and a 
scholar. 

Those of more lively turn, and of quicker powers, from whom, 
for their brightness, we look for much, sometimes give still 
greater trouble, and wind it up in sorrowful disappointment. 
Such often presume on their quickness, and hope to make up 
thereby for the manly toil they are not willing to endure. 
Conscious that, with less of exertion, they could accomplish 
more than others of slower thought, they are improvident of 
time, fitful, irregular, and thus they allow themselves to be left 
behind, when they are able to be foremost. How can we make 
scholars, even of the brightest, who will not be students? 



12 

There are, unhappily, many other forms in which this aver- 
sion to close and diligent occupation in study betrays itself 
and obstructs our work. Some will give attention only to 
such studies as they fancy they have a special taste for — which 
are, for the most part, of easy acquisition — the more difficult 
being out of the line of this kind of taste. Some are given to 
change — persuading themselves that they have learned enough 
in this department, and proposing to pass into that, although 
they have mastered nothing. Others are too fond of company, 
and love to spend time in society, which ought to be given to 
their books. And all this trouble is greatly enhanced with 
many by their interest in public affairs. In full sympathy 
with the universal and intense agitation of the people, the 
young, like ourselves, are eager for the news. These themes 
have no place in our personal intercourse with them, and are 
excluded from their public exercises ; but they can not be shut 
out from their thoughts, or stripped of the power to impede 
their studies. No wonder that often their minds are hardly 
held to their work, and easily drawn to more exciting sub- 
jects. 

It is a multiform, and it is a sore evil — this dread of grap- 
pling with difficulties in the struggle for knowledge. Certainly 
it is our duty to meet it at every point and in every shape it 
takes, and to do all that may be in our power to overcome it, 
and to supplant it with a better spirit. And, doubtless, the 
wisdom and the skill of a true teacher find some of their best 
uses herein — to quicken sluggish insensibility into active life — 
to reduce the impatience of the restless and the wayward to 
sober and steady occupation — to strip_ the text-book and the 
blackboard of all that is repulsive, and make the recitation an 
agreeable entertainment. But if any, who are over us, think it 
easy to be done, and look for us to do it oftener than in some 
happy cases, we cheerfully offer them our seats, and will stand, 
as rulers in their stead, while they try to do it. 

The young are the less to be blamed for all this, because they 
have not yet learned better. They are yielding to an influence 
natural to the most, the evil of which they can not be expected 
to understand, for they do not clearly perceive the uses of learn- 
ing, and can not rightly estimate the value of knowledge. The 
fault is far greater with them who ought to know better, and 



13 

by these a principal obstruction is thrown in our way. It is the 
extremely inadequate view, which is taken of the whole subject 
by so many people, who call themselves the friends of educa- 
tion. I speak not in bitterness, but in sorrow, when I express 
the conviction, drawn from all my observation, especially as a 
teacher, that the public mind is sadly wanting in a clear under- 
standing of what it is to educate our children, and in a right 
appreciation of its benefits. There are many parents and other 
persons having the control of youth, who seem to take no dis- 
tinction between going to school and learning something — 
between the form and ceremony of attending College, and the 
actual acquiring of knowledge. Xo wonder their sons do also 
confound things which are totally distinct. It is not unusual 
for students, so called, to repair to College in expectation of 
gaining something — they know not what— by methods they 
have never considered, in seasons too brief for any object, which 
requires time and labor. Others, whose notions are not quite 
so vague or so crude, and who propose a longer time and a 
more liberal course, have yet no conception of being thor- 
oughly taught. The patient, steady, rigid drilling of the mind, 
which is so necessary and so large a part of education, enters 
not into their thoughts. They say they want to learn some 
things, and that is all they aspire to — leaving out of their 
scheme, if we may call it so, the very things it were best for 
them to learn. The wisdom and experience of ages — the great 
multitude of scholars, who have made teaching their study and 
their work, with the general consent of the lovers of knowl- 
edge and learning, in remarkable harmony — have brought out, 
as their best conclusion, what we call a course of study. I do 
not say it is the best that is possible. It is enough for me to 
say, it has been received as the best that is attainable, and it is 
in use by principal schools of higher grade all over the country. 
What is plainer than that the people who propose to educate 
their sons, ought to accept it gladly, and persuade them to pur- 
sue it faithfully to the letter, all through to its close? Instead 
of this, many a hand — the hands of the advocates of sound 
education, the hands of the friends of good learning, so they 
count themselves — we see laid upon it, to mar its beauty; and 
rob it of its power. And we are obliged to stand by, and let 
them do it. 



14 

I say I find little fault with the boys. They have heard at 
home, and from friends and neighbors, older and wiser than 
themselves, that the College course is too long, and that much 
of it may be left out, with little or no loss. They are allowed, 
if not encouraged, to attempt a short and easy method, with 
the strange delusion, that this will give them a respectable edu- 
cation. 

There are youths, no doubt, whose time is very short — all 
that can be withdrawn from the necessities of their condition, 
even for the sake of knowledge — and whose circumstances, if 
not narrow, are at least restricted to small expenditures, but 
who do ardently desire to make the most of these orderings of 
Providence. Profound respect is due to an ingenuous youth, 
who bears himself with manliness and honor, in any right pur- 
suit, and every encouragement and opportunity we can offer 
ought to be freely afforded to him to learn all he can, if it were 
for no more than an hour. But this is another matter, every 
way different from the choice of a brief and meager course — so 
like derision of the long exertion and the laborious culture 
which make a scholar — refused, with time enough, if life con- 
tinue, and means enough at free command. 

There is another form in which this shallow view of educa- 
tion exposes itself, closely allied to this, and not less injurious. 
It is the extremely imperfect state of primary instruction. So 
many come to us, no way prepared as they ought to be, for the 
classes they propose to enter. Some are so deficient iu the 
rudiments of learning, and so poorly taught in what they think 
they know, that they must take lower places than they desire ; 
and when admitted to these, they must go over what they 
ought to have learned long ago. And this almost makes cer- 
tain a slow and halting gait throughout their journey, to say 
nothing of the labor of elementary instruction it unjustly im- 
poses here, which belongs elsewhere. I offer no complaint 
against the teachers, from whom they come to us. Some of 
them have the same difficulties to contend with in their places, 
that trouble us in ours. These commonly give to their pupils 
all they are willing to receive. It is mainly due to the low, 
obscure, narrow views, that are so often taken of the nature, the 
methods, and the uses of mental cultivation; and then it comes 
out of the haste and impatience of the people, in the practical 



15 

education of their children, and their neglect, or unwilling, 
ness, to require them to be soundly taught in all they profess 
to learn. 

I have thought it my duty to say so much — mournful, indeed, 
but its utterance not to be forborne. I have said it, not to dis- 
courage you or ourselves, our pupils or their friends, but to 
rouse us all to a just sense of our obligations in this great con- 
cern. 

You will not, I trust, infer, from any thing that has been said, 
the slightest disparagement of the young gentlemen here before 
yon. They fairly represent the youth of the country. They 
are just like those who have adorned these halls year after year 
from the beginning — not a few of whom are now the leading 
men in all aiiairs — of which all my brethren are witnesses, and 
some of them are examples. Some of these will make their 
mark in like manner. Meanwhile, as a body, they are pur- 
suing their studies with commendable diligence, and in their 
general deportment they arc conducting themselves, as far as 
I know, with exemplary propriety. I deem myself happy in 
having them under our care, and I congratulate yorf, gentle- 
men, who have rule over us all, on their presence in this school 
to-day. 

III. It remains for me to say a few things concerning Gov- 
ernment and Discipline, so far as these have been put into my 
hands. 

It has been well said, as I believe, that the world is governed 
too much. I take the principles which control all things to be 
few and simple. The Supreme Moral Law, divinely given, is 
summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments. A great 
expositor, who was taught of God, explaining the duties of our 
political and social relations, having rehearsed a few plain rules, 
declares that all the balance may be reduced to a single head: 
for, if there be any other commandment, it is briefly compre- 
hended in one saying, which exhausts the subject. I suppose, 
then, that small communities, at least, are best governed by a 
few comprehensive rules, easily understood, easily remembered, 
easily observed — commending themselves to the judgment of 
all — kindly, but firmly enforced. 

There is a fine example in the wisdom of Dr. Kane, setting 
out for the Polar seas. "We did not sail," he says, "under 



16 

the rules that govern our national ships; but we had our own 
regulations, well considered and announced beforehand, and 
rigidly adhered to afterward, through all the vicissitudes of the 
expedition. These included, first, absolute subordination to 
the officer in command ; second, abstinence from all intoxica- 
ting liquors, except when dispensed by special order; third, 
the habitual disuse of profane language. We had no other 
laws." 

It is according to this general view of the subject, that I pro- 
pose to conduct the rule of this College, as I share it with my 
colleagues. Proceeding on such principles of government, I 
desire to keep, in my own heart, a spirit conformable to them ; 
and trying to govern others, to endeavor to govern myself — 
remembering how Infinite Wisdom has taught us, that " the 
slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his 
spirit, than he that taketh a city." I assume concerning every 
pupil, and am slow in coming to doubt of any, that he is 
imbued with sentiments of virtue and honor, which make a 
true gentleman. I shall aim to feel toward him, as far as pos- 
sible, and always to treat him, as if he were my son — offering 
him my counsel, as he may seem to me to need it, whether in 
the way of commendation, or reproof — whether as to his soul, 
or his studies — trying to guard him against the harm that he 
may do himself; and if he be likely to suffer any damage from 
others, doing my utmost to protect him. I shall never treat 
him otherwise than in a frank and open manner — despising in 
my heart the method of control, that would bid me watch 
him, or make another a spy on his actions. I greatly desire 
that he shall give me his confidence ; and the way to win it, 
and to make him a just return for it, is to give him mine. I 
believe that, under such a rule as these thoughts suggest, our 
boys would govern themselves far better than we can govern 
them under any other. And in every case in which it wholly 
fails, after a fair trial, then he had better go home — if not on his 
own account, certainly on ours, and for the sake of his com- 
panions here. And this is often better done in a silent and 
quiet way, than by open and formal discipline, whether 
respect be had to the youth himself, to his friends, or to the 
College. 

You will allow me the freedom of expressing my opinion 



17 

concerning certain principles, which have long had place in 
the government of many colleges, and which are still upheld 
and approved as just and wise, perhaps necessary to good 
discipline. If the mention of them seem needless among us, 
or if my views of them exceed the respectful and diffident 
reserve, which it becomes me to use in allusion to other Institu- 
tions, I hope to be justified by my desire to be understood on 
the whole subject, and by my unwillingness to appear, through 
my silence, to consent to principles which I think false and 
mischievous in application to college government. I refer to 
laws, which, apparently likening students in the college to 
citizens in the Commonwealth, subject them to like rules, in 
requiring them to give testimony against each other, when 
charged with offenses which need to be proved — laws, which, 
going a great way beyond this, when disorders have been 
committed, but suspicion has attached to none in particular, 
allow them all to be called on to say, whether they have taken 
part in these disorders — requiring each one to purge or crimi- 
nate himself, under heavy penalties in case of refusal to answer. 
I use the mildest expressions on this subject, when I say, that 
I do not accept these methods of governing a college. I do 
not conceive of it, as of a State, with its courts, and its wit- 
nesses, and its grand juries. Still less do I conceive of its 
power, as stern and inexorable in its search after evil-doers. 
It is to me more like a family, with its pious care, its anxious 
oversight, and its parental government ; and when I could 
guide it no longer with this method, and in this spirit of con- 
trol, I should desire to give it up. I am obliged, then, to 
declare that I could have no share in executing laws, of 
which I have felt it my duty to speak in these terms. 

I am happy to suppose, that so far as they have had any 
place here, it has, in the main, been as so many dead letters ; 
and I venture to express the hope, that whenever they engage 
the attention of the Board of Trustees, they will be formally 
laid aside. These young men will take no advantage of their 
absence ; on the contrary, if they had ever been thought of as 
binding, their removal will give greater dignity to all that 
remain, in the eyes of these ingenuous and manly youths. 
They know, as we do, that such laws could not be enforced, to 
any serious effect, among the sons of our people — the cool 
2 



18 

judgment of the people, and the warm impulses of their sons 
equally against them. And for myself, I greatly desire it to 
be known by all, that it is not your pleasure that any part of 
our rule shall be conducted on these principles. 

And now let me remind my brethren, that we, whom they 
have put in charge of this Christian College, with its solemn 
trusts, and its great work, need all the support your wisdom 
can give us every way. While we look for the direction of 
your counsel and authority, we earnestly ask you and your 
people to help us with your prayers, that, by Sovereign Grace, 
we may stand in our lot, and quit ourselves like men. Our 
fathers, where are they ! Our brethren, so many of them gone 
from us, and we must follow them ! The time that remains to 
us is short, and it warns us to accept the lesson of infinite wis- 
dom and goodness, u Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do 
it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor 
knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." 



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